Insights Category: Design Innovation

Hot Property: Platelet BioGenesis HQ

Date

May 26, 2020

Author

Steve Adams - Banker & Tradesman Staff

This article initially appeared in Banker & Tradesman on May 24, 2020.

What: Platelet BioGenesis headquarters
Where: 65 Grove St., Watertown
Built: 2020
Owner: BioMed Realty 

 Housed in a former mill building, the design makes full use of floor-to-ceiling windows as the office and lab spaces snake along the perimeter. 

Architects TRIA, along with developer BioMed Realty and contractor PIDC Construction, provided expedited design and construction management services for the $5.4 million project, enabling Platelet BioGenesis to move into the 17,500-square-foot facility in just 18 weeks. The space offers modular and flexible lab areas which were designed specifically to enhance safety. 

BioMed Realty acquired the 120,000-square-foot office-lab building for $62.5 million in 2017. 

They Said It:  

“Platelet BioGenesis has always prided itself on its employee cohesion and teamwork. The new space at 65 Grove St. in Watertown offers plenty of transparency and space for employees to gather and discuss new ways for the company to move forward. Overall, it is an elegant industrial design tailored for productivity and success.”
— Lucianna Lucarelli Scordo, Director of Integrated Design, Interiors and Associate Principal, TRIA 

The Importance of Who and What During Pre-Design: Designing for Your Company

Date

April 22, 2020

Author

Neli Ialamov

Staff Bio

Neli Ialamov

TRIA has prided itself on a holistic design approach since its founding. Using a specialized visioning and programming series, our team takes its time to understand the specific needs and requirements of a company, its leadership, and employees. This process has been honed and refined over the years, allowing our designers to tailor each project to reflect a company’s core values and principles without sacrificing efficiency and cost-awareness. But what exactly does visioning and programming entail?

Visioning is the process of understanding who a company is, and who they want to be moving forward in the future. At TRIA, we rely heavily on “inspiration images” during this process. Over a series of meetings with leadership, various employee divisions, and many times the company as a whole, “inspiration images” are presented to understand the likes, dislikes, and needs of an office. These images can portray material, color, texture, lighting, organization and more. Once as much feedback as possible is received, it’s important to review notes and synthesizethe overarching themes revealed. This creates a baseline understanding of company culture, in addition to allowing employees across all levels to better comprehend the individual wants and requirements of their coworkers.

Going hand-in-hand with visioning, programming research defines what a company requires to function effectively. This phase acknowledges the current state of the office, and searches for redundancies or inefficiencies, in addition to what is already working well. While visioning allows for a more qualitative approach, programming relies heavily on the quantification of the business’ day to day and foreseeable future. For example, a company might currently have four dedicated collaboration spaces that are frequently booked, however is anticipating hiring twenty more employees over the next year. It is important to take this information and calculate whether the current collaboration space count can effectively serve the additional employees, or whether more spaces will need to be planned. This sort of thinking can be extended down to each individual in the company, in terms of seating and desk preferences, organizational needs, technological requirements and more.

The combined effect of visioning and programming during pre-design creates a design reflective not only of the core values of the company, but also the needs of its employee base. TRIA’s extensive experience with offering a holistic design approach has repeatedly shown the importance of offering employees a space that best suits their daily activity. As staff dedicate 40+ hours a week to their work, it is critical to supply employees with amenities that assist in their satisfaction and efficiency. This not only increases staff support, but also the general company output. By giving everyone in the company an opportunity to partake in the design and final feel of their office, you are giving employees a sense of autonomy and responsibility, strengthening the bond existing between co-workers and leadership.

Event Spotlight: Love, TRIA

Date

February 27, 2020

TRIA recently expanded into the space next to our original office to accommodate our growing staff. We wanted to think of a way to thank both our employees, partners, and our clients for making this continued growth possible, whilst also showing off the design of our new space. With Valentine’s Day around the corner, what better way than an open house event?

The result was a Valentine themed celebration hosted in our own office, complete with a dance floor and live music. With almost 350 attendees, it was an incredible night filled with good company and lots of laughs! We want to thank everyone’s effort in making this happen, and of course, thank you to everyone who joined us for the evening.

Event Spotlight: IIDA New England Fashion Show

Date

November 26, 2019

Author

Staci Barber & Donald Bárány

One of our favorite annual events just passed: the IIDA New England Fashion Show! We just love to see all the incredible outfits that grace the runway, and 2019 brought along some exciting changes. Each submission pulled a sub-theme to the overall theme, PORTALS: TRIA’s sub-theme was Jurassic Park. We had a lot of fun with this one!

We teamed up with Reflex Lighting and Wolf Gordon and chose to have two models.

Model 1 –  Thomas Choi represented the human, Ian Malcolm, aka, beloved actor, Jeff Goldblum. This ensemble was largely represented by Wolf Gordon materials. The outfit was dark, made up of shades of black with accents of red. As the human stuck within Jurassic Park, he has been attacked – he is bloody – but he is a survivor.

Deconstructed Materials Included:

  • Upholstery
  • Wall Cover

Model 2 – Our second model was Ryan Whitcomb who represented the dinosaur, the dilophosaurus, dressed in an outfit largely consisting of materials provided by Reflex Lighting. For inspiration, we looked to the dinosaur’s descendants: birds. This outfit was much more colorful and vibrant than the human’s and focused on transparency and beauty. The dinosaur shows off – he is the ultimate predator and fears no one.

Deconstructed Materials Included:

  • Wire
  • Zip Ties
  • Polypropylene
  • Galvanized Steel Mesh
  • Crystals

This year was extra special for us as our team won the award for Most Innovative. Also, Ryan got to strut his stuff on the runway as runner up for Best Walk. Let’s just say, our voices were a little raspy the next day from all the cheering.

Can’t wait for next year!

Special shout out: Another reason we love this annual event is that proceeds go towards a charity beneficiary.  This year’s beneficiary was YouthBuild Boston, providing underserved young people with the support and credentials needed to successfully enter the building trades. Find out more about YouthBuild Boston here: www.youthbuildboston.org.

TRIA Selected to Design Ironwood Pharmaceuticals’ Downtown Boston Headquarters

Date

September 5, 2019

New office at 100 Summer Street designed to inspire and foster a culture of innovation

 BOSTON – September 4, 2019 – TRIA, a partner-led architecture firm with a focus on designing unique spaces for science, technology, and corporate clients, announced today that it is designing a new headquarters in downtown Boston for Ironwood Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: IRWD), a gastrointestinal (GI)-focused healthcare company. TRIA was selected to provide space planning and corporate interior design services for the design and build-out of Ironwood’s new 39,000 SF headquarters at 100 Summer Street. Re-locating from Cambridge, Mass., Ironwood expects to complete its move to its new office in the fourth quarter of 2019.

Mark Mallon, chief executive officer of Ironwood stated, “From the beginning of this project, TRIA’s highly skilled interior design team helped to shape our vision for a collaborative workspace. We believe this new space will provide an inspiring work environment for employees and help to foster a strong culture of innovation and collaboration.”

TRIA’s design for Ironwood’s new headquarters is intended to provide an efficient and collaborative workspace in an open concept office plan. Collaboration areas with soft seating will be interspersed to create neighborhoods throughout the open office, which will also offer bench seating and personal lockers. Wooden millwork elements break up the open space further to serve as subtle room dividers while creating storage and semi-private nooks. The office will provide a variety of workspaces for heads-down work and collaboration, including a library, huddle spaces, phone rooms, and conference rooms of various sizes. To encourage interaction and movement, Ironwood’s new office also will feature a large multi-use café space, a coffee bar, and locker rooms with showers.

Sourcing inspiration from Ironwood’s name, TRIA’s design melds industrial and organic architectural elements to give the space a unified feel. Exposed ceilings, columns and concrete floors are softened by wood finishes and earth-tone colors, distinctive to each neighborhood. Slatted-wood structures offer visual variety throughout the space and provide employees with portals for focused work. Fun yet informative graphics and company branding will be placed throughout the space to raise awareness of the GI medical conditions that the company’s medicines are designed to treat.

The Ironwood project team includes:

  • Architect: TRIA
  • General Contractor: Lee Kennedy Construction
  • MEP/FP Engineer: WB Engineers
  • Owner’s Project Manager and Lease Broker: Cushman & Wakefield
  • Office Furniture: Red Thread

About TRIA

TRIA is a full-service architecture firm that values client relationships above all. The firm’s principal-driven approach puts our leadership team at the table with client decision-makers, working together to envision success, solve problems and deliver exceptional results. Our lab design and corporate interiors teams strive to learn every client’s unique DNA, and by doing so, we create efficient and energizing spaces that reflect a company’s culture and foster innovation. At TRIA, we design spaces that enable business success and advance new discoveries – in the lab, around the office, and beyond. Visit us on the web at https://tria.design and connect with us on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook.

DPS Group and TRIA Designing ElevateBio’s cGMP Manufacturing “Basecamp” Facility in Waltham

Date

June 13, 2019

BOSTON – June 13, 2019 – DPS Group, a privately-owned, global engineering, procurement, construction management and validation (EPCMV) firm serving high-tech process industries, and TRIA, a partner-led architecture firm with a focus on designing unique spaces for science, technology, and corporate clients, announced today that the firms are designing a new cGMP development and manufacturing facility in Waltham, Mass. for ElevateBio, a Cambridge-based biotech company focused on creating and building a broad range of cell and gene therapy companies. ElevateBio will occupy 108,000 SF of space in POST at 200 Smith Street, a former U.S. post office repositioned into a 430,000 SF office and lab building on a 36-acre campus. This facility will house ElevateBio BaseCamp, a single R&D, process development and cGMP manufacturing company, providing these and other services across ElevateBio’s portfolio companies and selected strategic partners, enabling them to access state-of-the-art capabilities.

ElevateBio selected DPS and its design affiliate TRIA to provide engineering design, architecture, consulting and interior design services for the fit-out of a raw warehouse space into a state-of-the art cGMP development and manufacturing facility for novel therapeutic technologies. Designed to feel like a “basecamp” – a physical foundation point for the incremental climb in the company’s growth, ElevateBio’s new facility will feature a collaborative open plan office and amenities that promote interaction, and provide flexible production suites for GMP manufacturing, laboratories, and a range of supporting utility and warehouse areas.

“The efficient and inspiring design of our new “basecamp” facility will offer development and  manufacturing capacity to meet current market demand as well as ensure flexibility for future growth with emerging pharmaceutical technologies,” said Mitchell Finer, Ph.D., ElevateBio Chief Scientific Officer and President of ElevateBio BaseCamp. “As a strategic design partner, DPS Group brings a tremendous depth of cGMP facility design experience to this project, while TRIA’s lab and workplace design expertise has been pivotal in creating an innovative work environment that puts lab science on display. The synergy of their design partnership has been central to the success of this specialized space, and we look forward to the completion of our new home.”

TRIA’s design for ElevateBio’s open office and lab space will embrace the enormous ceiling heights, abundant natural light, exposed steel beams, and other original features of the former postal service distribution center. The basecamp concept will blend a comfortable, nature-based color palette with the industrial aesthetic of the existing building, using a light-toned wooden ceiling lattice to highlight the exposed ductwork and help to scale the expansive ceilings of 16 to 24 feet in areas. Upon entry to reception, the space flows from the open office with café and huddle spaces, to the glass-walled labs that promote transparency for employees, and finally to the GMP manufacturing area. DPS and TRIA are collaborating on the design of the lab suite for quality control testing and process development, ensuring a continuity of design and transparency between the office and lab space.

DPS Group is providing engineering design services to develop ElevateBio’s GMP manufacturing area with the flexibility to accommodate a range of technologies for the manufacturing of gene and cell therapy products.

The ElevateBio project team includes The Richmond Group for construction management, McNamara Salvia for structural engineering services, and EBI Consulting Group for civil engineering services.

About DPS Group

DPS Group is a global engineering, consulting and project management company, serving high-tech industries around the world. DPS delivers services for clients across the complete engineering and construction value chain including feasibility studies, concepts, consulting, architecture, engineering, procurement, construction management, commissioning, qualification and validation; as well as contingent staffing solutions.

DPS applies its extensive process engineering expertise built over 44 years, as well as significant Lean construction experience to assist clients in high-end process sectors such as pharmaceuticals, biotech and semiconductors to deliver manufacturing facilities speedily, safely and cost effectively. What sets the firm apart are the partnerships it builds with clients through a fundamental understanding of their businesses and its own agility, flexibility, original thinking and high-caliber people.

DPS has grown substantially in recent years and now employs more than 1,700 people in 12 offices and on client sites in Ireland, U.K., Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden, Switzerland, Israel, Singapore, and the United States. For more information, visit www.dpsgroupglobal.com.

About TRIA

TRIA is a full-service architecture firm that values client relationships above all. The firm’s principal-driven approach puts our leadership team at the table with client decision-makers, working together to envision success, solve problems and deliver exceptional results. Our lab design and corporate interiors teams strive to learn every client’s unique DNA, and by doing so, we create efficient and energizing spaces that reflect a company’s culture and foster innovation. At TRIA, we design spaces that enable business success and advance new discoveries – in the lab, around the office, and beyond. Visit us on the web at https://tria.design and connect with us on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook.

About ElevateBio

ElevateBio, LLC, is a Cambridge-based biotechnology company, established to create and operate a broad portfolio of cell and gene therapy companies with leading academic researchers, medical centers and entrepreneurs. ElevateBio builds single- and multi-product companies by providing scientific founders with fully-integrated bench-to-bedside capabilities including world-class scientists, manufacturing facilities, drug developers and commercial expertise. ElevateBio BaseCamp, a company-owned Cell and Gene Therapy Center of Innovation, will serve as the R&D, process development and manufacturing hub across the entire ElevateBio portfolio while also supporting selected strategic partners. ElevateBio’s lead investors are the UBS Oncology Impact Fund (OIF) managed by MPM Capital, as well as F2 Ventures. Investors also include EcoR1 Capital, Redmile Group, and Samsara BioCapital.

DPS Group and TRIA Congratulate Moderna on ISPE 2019 Facility of the Future Category Award

Date

April 2, 2019

Photography courtesy of Moderna Therapeutics

Photography: Richard Gayle Photography

BOSTON – April 2, 2019 – DPS Group, a privately-owned, global consulting, engineering, procurement, construction management and validation firm serving high-tech process industries, and design affiliate TRIA, a partner-led architecture firm with a focus on science and technology organizations bringing new discoveries to the market, are proud to announce that their design of a new clinical development manufacturing facility for Moderna has won the ISPE 2019 Facility of the Year Award (FOYA) in the Facility of the Future category.

 ISPE’s Facility of the Year Awards is the premier global awards program recognizing innovation and creativity in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology manufacturing industries. Announced at the 2019 ISPE Europe Annual Conference in Dublin, Ireland on April 2nd, the award-winning projects set the standard for pharmaceutical facilities of the future by demonstrating excellence in facility design, construction, and operations. DPS and TRIA provided full architectural, engineering design, and project management services for Moderna’s new 200,000 SF Current Good Manufacturing Practices (cGMP) mRNA clinical manufacturing facility in Norwood, Mass.

Moderna is a clinical-stage biotechnology company pioneering messenger RNA (mRNA) therapeutics and vaccines to create a new generation of transformative medicines for patients. The company’s Norwood facility provides the capacity to develop materials for pre-clinical studies, as well as Phase 1 and Phase 2 clinical development programs. ISPE selected Moderna as the 2019 Facility of the Future Category Award winner for the potential impact on patients through accelerated delivery of a new category of medicines.

“We are delighted to have worked with Moderna to bring this new state-of-the-art facility to successful completion,” said Frank Keogh, chief executive officer, DPS Group. “It is extremely gratifying to deliver on Moderna’s vision for a digitally-enabled, flexible and scalable facility to develop innovative medicines for patients. DPS and TRIA warmly congratulate Moderna on winning this prestigious ISPE Facility of the Future Category Award.”

DPS provided full engineering design and architecture services for all areas of the two-story facility, including cGMP clinical manufacturing, drug substance suites, formulation, aseptic filling, plasmid production, quality control laboratories, pre-clinical laboratories, toxicology laboratories, and clinical and pre-clinical warehouses. TRIA designed the office and lab areas, including three clinical labs, a glass-walled tour experience showcasing Moderna’s discovery and manufacturing process, and an open office environment with flexible seating, collaboration areas and transparency to create visual connections between the office and lab/manufacturing spaces. DPS and TRIA collaborated closely to ensure that all clinical and non-clinical program elements were designed in harmony with one another.

Designed and built on a two-year, fast-tracked schedule, Moderna’s technically complex facility was also designed to achieve LEED certification. The project team included:

  • Project Architect and Engineer of Record: DPS Group
  • Lab Architect and Interior Designer: TRIA
  • Construction Manager: Wise Construction
  • Owner’s Rep: Hereva Consultants
  • Validation: ValSource
  • Structural Engineer: Pare Corporation
  • Civil Engineer: Kelly Engineering
  • MEP Startup Coordination and Operations: 42 North Solutions
  • Code Compliance Consultant: Jenson Hughes
  • Landlord: Alexandria Real Estate

About DPS Group

DPS Group is a global consulting, engineering, and construction management company, serving high-tech industries around the world. DPS delivers services for clients across the complete engineering and construction value chain including feasibility studies, concepts, consulting, architecture, engineering, procurement, construction management, commissioning, qualification and validation; as well as contingent staffing solutions. DPS employs more than 1,750 people in our offices and on client sites in Ireland, UK, Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden, Switzerland, Israel, Singapore and the United States. For more information, visit www.dpsgroupglobal.com.

About TRIA

TRIA practices the science of architecture. We combine a deep understanding of the unique needs of science-based organizations with decades of experience constructing spaces and places that enable those organizations to meet their goals. Using a principal-driven approach, we partner closely with clients to enable business success and advance new discoveries, in the lab and across the organization. Visit us on the web at https://tria.design and connect with us on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook.

About the ISPE Facility of the Year Awards Program

Established in 2004, The Facility of the Year Awards (FOYA) recognize state-of-the-art projects utilizing new, innovative technologies to improve the quality of products, reduce the cost of producing high-quality medicines, and demonstrate advances in project delivery. The FOYA program provides a platform for the pharmaceutical science and manufacturing industry to showcase its accomplishments in facility design, construction, and operation, while sharing the development of new applications of technology and cutting-edge approaches. Visit www.ISPE.org/Facility-Year-Awards for more information.

About ISPE

The International Society for Pharmaceutical Engineering (ISPE) is the world’s largest not-for-profit association serving its members through leading scientific, technical, and regulatory advancement across the entire pharmaceutical lifecycle. The 18,500 members of ISPE are building solutions in the development and manufacture of safe, effective pharmaceutical and biologic medicines, and medical delivery devices in more than 90 countries around the world. Founded in 1980, ISPE has its worldwide headquarters and training center in North Bethesda, Maryland USA, and its operations center in Tampa, Florida USA. Visit www.ISPE.org for more information.

TRIA to Design New Dementia Discovery Center for Eisai Inc.

Date

March 13, 2019

Construction underway on state-of-the-art lab facility
 in new Alewife Research Center.

BOSTON – March 13, 2019 – TRIA, a partner-led architecture firm with a focus on designing unique spaces for science, technology, and corporate clients, announced today that it has been selected by Eisai Inc., the U.S. pharmaceutical subsidiary of Tokyo-based Eisai Co., Ltd., to design its Center for Genetics Guided Dementia Discovery (G2D2), a new exploratory drug research facility focused on human genetics-based immunodementia therapeutics. Located in the newly constructed Alewife Research Center at 35 CambridgePark Drive in the bio-pharmaceutical hub of Cambridge, Mass., the new 50,000–square-foot lab and office facility is expected to be complete in mid-2019.

The new facility designed by TRIA will feature an open office plan and adjacent open laboratory for Eisai’s neuroscience R&D team of over 100 employees, which is set around a central collaboration meeting space dubbed “The Brain.” The site’s open labs are designed to allow multi-disciplinary scientists (including wet-lab chemistry, biology and automation) to work together in a single, accessible and shared lab space.

Collaboration zones are intermingled to create neighborhoods throughout the office, which offers bench seating, sit-to-stand desks, and personal lockers. Several huddle and conference rooms are scattered throughout the workspace, including two conference rooms with a movable wall that opens for larger gatherings. All meeting areas and tables are technology-enabled to offer flexibility and promote the impromptu sharing of ideas.

The Eisai project team includes:

  • Architect: TRIA
  • General Contractor: John Moriarty & Associates
  • MEP/FP Engineers: AHA Consulting Engineers
  • OPM: Black Diamond Real Estate Advisors
  • Landlord: The Davis Companies
  • Office Furniture: Office Resources and Knoll
  • Lighting: Reflex Lighting

About TRIA

TRIA is a full-service architecture firm that values client relationships above all. The firm’s principal-driven approach puts our leadership team at the table with client decision-makers, working together to envision success, solve problems and deliver exceptional results. Our lab design and corporate interiors teams strive to learn every client’s unique DNA, and by doing so, we create efficient and energizing spaces that reflect a company’s culture and foster innovation. At TRIA, we design spaces that enable business success and advance new discoveries – in the lab, around the office, and beyond. Visit us on the web at https://tria.design and connect with us on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook.

Creating the Look of Daylight in a Repositioned Lobby

DATE

January 24, 2019

Author

Donald Bárány

Staff Bio

Donald Bárány

Donald Bárány

Refreshed lobby at 38 Sidney Street
Photo by Sri Thumati Photography

Article originally appeared in High-Profile Monthly on January 24, 2019.

It’s clear that an attractive building lobby can help attract potential tenants. With that goal in mind, Forest City Realty Trust, now owned by Brookfield Properties, endeavored to update all the office building lobbies at University Park at MIT, a mixed-use science and technology park adjacent to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge. The Clark Building at 38 Sidney Street, a five-story, 122,000sf office, research, and lab building, houses several major pharmaceutical and healthcare companies and fronts the University Park Common, the central greenspace of the campus setting. Design firm TRIA was engaged to create a refreshed lobby for 38 Sidney Street and achieve a new building positioning that would appeal to biotech tenants while maintaining a cohesive look amongst the other recently updated adjacent building lobbies.

Built in the 1980s, the existing lobby space at 38 Sidney was dark and dated and had limited natural lighting. TRIA’s design intent was to create a more timeless, museum-like setting by utilizing a simple, modern design. The design centered around the core concept of creating the illusion of natural daylight deep inside the space.

The main focal point of the lobby is the winding glass-and-steel staircase that features a large, stretched-fabric lighted fixture on the ceiling to help mimic natural daylight and reflect light off the glass. Throughout the lobby, indirect recessed lighting is cleverly integrated into the architecture to flood the space with light and cause light to sparkle, like natural sunlight, through the glass treads of the staircase.

A complex design of “stepped” folding walls and ceilings feature embedded LED lights that frame the eye through the lobby, to the vestibule of the main entrance where University Park Common is visible. Delicate recessed LED wall washers follow the folding geometry to create a cascade of light. Light-colored wood-paneled walls balance the cascading effect of the walls and ceilings while providing a neutral backdrop. A custom-made quartz reception desk offers visitors a veritable art piece in the museum-looking space, and a cozy sitting area adjacent to reception features two LCD screens recessed into the wall to display a building directory and other news.

From the lobby, dark walnut wood-framed openings create thresholds to two tenant corridor spaces. The stone-sourced light tile lobby floor shifts to complementary toned carpets in these corridors, with a dropped cloud ceiling accentuating the spaces. Natural plants and banquette seating with green cushions draw the colors of nature from University Park Common into the lobby.

TRIA collaborated closely with Siena Construction to construct the complicated architecture of folding geometry, integrated lighting, and staircase at 38 Sidney Street. Structural engineering firm Goldstein-Milano consulted on the glass-and-steel staircase as well as the infill of the two-story atrium space above the main entrance. The project team also included WB Engineers + Consultants for MEP engineering and Reflex Lighting for light fixture selection.

About the Author

Donald Bárány is a project designer at TRIA, a partner-led architecture firm with a focus on designing unique spaces for science & technology and corporate clients. For more information, please visit https://tria.design/.

Design Elements that Define a Successful Open Office Environment

DATE

September 24, 2018

Author

Lucianna Lucarelli

Staff Bio

Lucianna Lucarelli

Lucianna Lucarelli

A change in how – and where – people work has given companies the motivation to embrace an open and collaborative workspace. While studies have shown that this trend can increase productivity, boost employee satisfaction, and attract and retain top talent, the transition from a traditional office design to an open and collaborative workspace can be daunting to some employees.

The most effective open office environments provide a variety of work settings and meeting areas to best support employees. A successful design is tailored toward a company’s business goals and culture, and appeals to how employees work and what tools they find useful. Enhanced common areas, meeting rooms and social spaces can help to foster interaction and team work, increasing job satisfaction and productivity while requiring less square footage per person than individual offices.

When Cresa relocated its Boston office to the 10th floor of Atlantic Wharf, a mixed-use tower in Boston’s vibrant Waterfront District, TRIA provided interior architecture and corporate design services to create an open, modern and collaborative workspace that maximizes natural light and spectacular views of Boston Harbor. The energetic physical space reflects Cresa’s evolution and growth as a company while showcasing the workplace strategy design elements its clients seek.

Shifting Cresa’s workspace from a traditional office design to an open office environment, TRIA’s approach was to incorporate various types of work settings and gathering spaces to create a casual and collaborative office. The existing space featured an open perimeter, high ceilings and expansive glass–features that helped to accentuate the abundance of natural light and views of the water. In designing the transition from Cresa’s former traditional office at 200 State Street to its new open office workspace, TRIA incorporated the following design elements:

  • Varied work areas: Cresa’s high performance workspace was designed to accommodate employee work styles and individual preferences. Glass-fronted offices and clusters of low-walled workstations provide transparency and connection, and draw natural light deeper into the space. Shared locker storage areas offer visual separation of work zones and double as stand-up meeting spaces for impromptu gatherings.
  • Meeting spaces: Following the trend of fewer dedicated conference rooms, Cresa opted instead for a mix of meeting and collaborative spaces based on the company’s work style. TRIA’s design provides plenty of choices for interaction, with technology-enabled conference rooms of varied sizes, small huddle areas with standing-height tables, and casual meeting rooms with soft seating.
  • Café as collaborative zone: Cresa’s new workspace features a central café with multiple seating options to encourage informal gatherings throughout the day. Designed as a multi-purpose collaboration zone, the café features an assortment of table seating, bar stools, and banquette seating to encourage employee engagement. The flexible space also accommodates larger company meetings and events.
  • Focus on technology: Cresa made a significant investment in technology and AV in the new office, including the installation of display screens in huddle spaces and conference rooms and the implementation of Zoom technology to support remote work. The combination of Zoom technology and the new open office environment allows employees to work more collaboratively internally and with clients.

In designing the space, TRIA blended a warm neutral palette with wood tones to create a sophisticated and modern yet inviting style. A range of polished and rustic materials enrich the space, including concrete flooring, exposed ceilings, reclaimed wood details and glass walls. A wood slat ceiling extends from Cresa’s reception area into the main tenant corridor to create a distinct feel as visitors enter the office. A demountable wall between the reception area and adjoining conference room features a fully integrated, seamless technology system, with one flat-panel screen for branding facing reception and another screen facing conference room participants.

While making the transition from traditional to modern office spaces can be challenging, a workspace that supports collaboration and encourages social interaction can help maximize efficiency and lead to happier employees.

About the Author

Lucianna Lucarelli is the director of interiors at TRIA. Her article was originally written for Cresa Boston’s blog.